One injured trying to help

The recently acquired humvees from the military as surplus material have proven helpful this week as they have been used to access stranded people and help police continue their patrols in the blizzard that dumped nearly a foot of snow on the county overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

The recently acquired humvees from the military as surplus material have proven helpful this week as they have been used to access stranded people and help police continue their patrols in the blizzard that dumped nearly a foot of snow on the county overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

The Carmi Police Department was forced to press its humvee into service early on in the storm due to the rapidly rising level of snow. Chief Randy Hamblin said the usual frontline patrol car, an all-wheel drive Ford purpose-built for police use, was nearly useless earl on in the storm.

"It does just fine on plowed streets," Hamblin streets. "But areas that have not yet been plowed have proven problematic for the car."

The night shift supervisor, Sgt. Tim Whitaker, quickly pressed the humvee into service during the early morning hours Wednesday before city crews had time to get to the side streets in town. Some early risers noticed only one set of tire tracks down their streets. Odds are, it was the police humvee on patrol.

The city police, along with White County Ambulance Service personnel, responded to an incident at Eighth and Maple streets Wednesday afternoon and the on-duty officer driving the humvee, Officer Brad Spence, could be heard on the radio providing the ambulance with its best possible avenue to safely arrive at the scene.

Authorities indicated a man was trying to use one vehicle to pull another vehicle from some deep snow and was pinched between the two vehicles while trying to tie them together.

He was not identified but suffered possible leg and hip injuries and was taken to an area hospital following the incident.

The White County Sheriff's Office has also found the vehicles to be invaluable in the blizzard as they responded to numerous reports of slide-offs and vehicles in ditches.

White County Sheriff Doug Maier also used one of the former military vehicles to rescue an out-of-state family that took a wrong turn off Interstate 64 and ended up stranded on a county road for a few hours before Maier could get to them.

Included in the family were two young children.

City crews are continuing to work Thursday (today) to clear the roads of ice and snow. Temperatures are expected to remain at or near the freezing level throughout the day. Main roads and highways are largely clear. Some side streets and many county roadways remain snow covered in patches and are still hazardous for travel.

The best advice offered by authorities is to stay home unless it is absolutely necessary to get out.